Gold Rush Project On the Banks of Plum Creek Reader's Theatre End of the School Year Activities This past week the students presented their group posters on their Gold Rush creative inventions. One group created "The Super Sip", which is a water bottle with two internal compartments- one for water and one for storing gold secretly. Another group made a special shirt designed to keep miners cool in the summer and warm in the winter, also with bulletproof material to protect against other miners. The third group designed a special shoe, the Spike Shoe, with sharp spikes that drive into the ground, making the earth loose and gold easier to see. The students did an excellent job with their essay, posters, and presentations. Another fun activity they took on was a short Reader's Theatre project. The students worked together in small groups to select a scene from On the Banks of Plum Creek to make into a skit and perform the following day for their class. The groups chose wonderful scenes to make sure that each group member had a chance to speak, act, and be as involved as they wanted. Below are some images of the fantastic little performance we had! I can't believe the next part of the newsletter...is about the end of the school year. And it is this week! Tomorrow we will have a celebration to acknowledge our hard work and the ending of the school year. With the fifth grade we will perform various service projects in the morning, and in the afternoon we will either play outside with organized stations and activities or watch movies indoors. When the kids leave tomorrow, they will bring many of their belongings home, too. The clean out is beginning!
On Tuesday we will take home the reminder of our belongings, including the student portfolio binders. If you could send an extra bag with your child tomorrow for them to tote belongings home that would be great. Lastly, I will be in touch with you as soon as I have any updates on the 8th grade graduation on Wednesday. If it has to be held inside, the fourth grade will be unable to attend due to space restrictions.
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Dear families, On Tuesday, we traveled to The Sawmill preserve, in Acushnet. There students walked the trails with representatives from the Buzzards Bay Coalition, and looked for examples of soil erosion. They also conducted experiments to replicate what happens when water comes into contact with loose soil. Students learned that erosion has a negative effect on the environment, and that plants and trees keep soil in place and help prevent erosion. We had our first gender meeting this week. Students met in gender groups to discuss various topics and ask questions. We will be having our next meeting Thursday, June 1st. Also this week, students had the opportunity to visit with Mr. Murdock and the current fourth grade teacher and future fifth grade teacher Ms. Bookstein to hear about what to expect fifth grade. They learned about fifth grade projects and activities as well as about the expectations, and responsibilities that they will have as they transition into their new role as the oldest students in the Lower School! They also had the opportunity to ask questions and share their feelings about moving to the next grade. A few curriculum highlights from the week Math - Identifying obtuse, acute, and right angles - Using protractors to measure degrees of angles - Accurately drawing angles Language Arts - On the Banks of Plum Creek, by Laura Ingalls Wilder ] Social Studies - Gold Rush Product Design Project group work continues. Looking ahead...
On Tuesday, author Gigi Priebe will be visiting FA. The fourth grade will have the opportunity to watch her speak at 10:00 followed by an optional book signing at 10:40. Gigi will have books for sale during her visit Monday morning. Families may purchase her books for $6. (Either cash, or check payable to FA is fine). Monday, June 5th will be our end of the year picnic. This year, fourth and fifth graders will be having their picnic on campus, and will enjoy a variety of activities together. Monday is also the rescheduled date for the school carnival. Class Day is held on Wednesday, June 7th, and it marks the culmination of our school year. It includes all students in grades 4 - 8. Students in grade 8 arrive by 9:00 am and students in grades 4 - 7 report to their homerooms between 9:15 and 9:30 am. The ceremony begins promptly at 10:00 am and should conclude around 11:30 am. We can accommodate early arrivals from 7:30 - 9:15 am, but there is no After-School Program this day. Dismissal is at approximately 11:30 am. Please note, this is a Dress Day for all students. Fourth through seventh grade boys should wear collared shirts and dress pants or dress shorts; girls should wear skirts, dresses, or comparable attire. NOTE: in the event of rain, Class Day is held indoors. If this is the case, students in grade 4-7 will not be able to attend due to space constraints in the Commons. Class Day location will be determined by 8:00 am on Wednesday the 7th and we will notify families of 4th - 7th graders immediately if the event will be held indoors. Thank you for your flexibility. Enjoy the long weekend! Prairie Days Photos and Fun Gold Rush Project End of Year Info Gender Meetings Prairie Days Thank you all for your involvement in Prairie days. We teachers could not have done it without you. The kids had such a wonderful day, Between the weather, the singing, dancing, picnic, and crafting, the day was especially memorable. I can't believe this is my first and (potentially) only Prairie Days as a fourth grade teacher. See our photos tab for tons of photos from the day. Gold Rush Design Project We started our last social studies unit this week. We are continuing our study of the United States history and geography by moving further West to the area that is now California, and studying the gold rush! We started the unit by simply reading a handful of library books and creating a list of facts we had learned about the time period and event. Then we brainstormed a list of possible problems that arose because of the gold rush. For example, we knew that miners used special tools to dig and find gold. We also knew that they were competing for gold and tons of people were flocking to strike it rich. These tools were essential to their success. However, there were some problems. For example, tools were expensive and broke easily. Also, there was a lot of competition for the gold, and people would get into fights about property, sharing gold, living quarters, and more. Students were posed with a question: what could they invent and market to miners in 1849 that would be useful, and make them, the inventors, money? Stay tuned for their creations, and essays! End of year info and Curriculum Updates
Gender Meetings Next week we will start gender meetings! These puberty related conversations will happen in two groups, one of boys and one girls group. The fourth grade teachers along with Maura Reimer will lead the girls, and Charley Pelissier will lead the discussion with the boys. Topics will range from hygiene to friendships, and what to expect in 5th grade- dress code, lockers for PE, and more. The kids are often nervous and don't really know what to expect from these meetings, but our goal is to give them the information they need in an age appropriate way. After the first meeting, kids usually say, "Oh, that wasn't so bad", or "That was actually kind of fun!" Blue and Gray Day (and Middle School's Carnival Day) is Next Friday, May 26th. From 8:45 until 9:45 we get to visit the middle school Carnival, full of games and a dunk tank, temporary tattoo stations and more. Then at 10 am is Blue and Gray day time! It will involve the entire school in field games for some friendly competition between the Blue team and Gray team. We hope you can join us for part of this wonderful tradition at 1:00 pm. Students will be reminded (or find out for the first time if they are new) what color they are- either BLUE or GRAY! We will dress up in our assigned color and battle to win...and produce tons of school spirit! Your child knows their color, and if they need a reminder, I have the list! Class Day is held on Wednesday, June 7th, and it marks the culmination of our school year. It includes all students in grades 4 - 8. Students in grade 8 arrive by 9:00 am and students in grades 4 - 7 report to their homerooms between 9:15 and 9:30 am. The ceremony begins promptly at 10:00 am and should conclude around 11:30 am. We can accommodate early arrivals from 7:30 - 9:15 am, but there is no After-School Program this day. Dismissal is at approximately 11:30 am. Please note, this is a Dress Day for all students. Fourth through seventh grade boys should wear collared shirts and dress pants or dress shorts; girls should wear skirts, dresses, or comparable attire. NOTE: in the event of rain, Class Day is held indoors. If this is the case, students in grade 4-7 will not be able to attend due to space constraints in the Commons. Class Day location will be determined by 8:00 am on Wednesday the 7th and we will notify families of 4th - 7th graders immediately if the event will be held indoors. Thank you for your flexibility. I hope you have a wonderful weekend! Sarah Spring Concert Field Trip to One Room Schoolhouse 50/50 Day Discussions Curriculum Update Upcoming Important Dates Wow! I was so impressed with the fourth grade act last night at the Spring Concert. As I reflected with the other fourth grade teachers on their performance I realized it really was the perfect song, activity, and music unit for this group. First, they were able to get hands on and build their own instruments with Mr. Bean. This group in particular is much more engaged and behaved when they have something to physically contribute, and they had that chance! Then they learned how to sing a beautiful song with the instruments as their backup music. I especially loved how Mr. Bean offered students an extension opportunity to meet with him during music and recess to learn and practice the chords so that they could play their Dulcimers throughout the entirety of the song. I was correct when I warned them that their voices and talent with the dulcimers would bring tears to the eyes of many adults! Today our field trip to the Russells Mills Schoolhouse was fantastic. First, it was so fun being dressed up in our Prairie Days outfits! We got to test them out, and get comfortable in our new attire in a location that felt very authentic. See the photos page for more pictures from today. On Wednesday after we learned about 50/50 day- a day to focus on getting to 50/50 gender equality- at All School Meeting, we had a morning meeting "share" related to the special day. Students were asked to look at the above graphic and simply comment, wonder, question, or connect to something on the board. It spurred tons of discussion, and I really was astounded at some of the things they said. For example I heard, "I wish we'd see more men fighting for education for girl. We've seen Malala, Razia Jan, and an 8th grade girl Tessa speak about it, but I don't see a lot of men involved." Many were concerned about equal pay for men and women and equality in families. In social studies and language arts we are continuing to read the next book in the Little House on the Prairie series, On the Banks of Plum Creek, in class and for homework. We are varying our post-reading activities. Students are either doing a summary post-it note, a post-it note with a connection to the chapter, or a small writing activity in their Reader's Notebooks related to the reading. I am noticing increased stamina developing across the board with writing and specifically, reading about writing, in our classroom. As we continuing reading Plum Creek, we will study the Western states and capitals, completing our geography of the United States. We will also study the Gold Rush and Oregon Trail. We are going to spend the majority of our remaining social studies in our homeroom on a Gold Rush related design project. We are also continuing with weekly spelling unit work and quizzes, in class work on cursive, and typing practice. Next Wednesday is Prairie Days! We will begin at 11 and conclude at 1. We will picnic outdoors on the Farmhouse Field (weather dependent). Feel free to bring a blanket or something to sit on with your child, and don't forget to bring a lunch! We will take part in dancing and singing and also help kids with tinsmithing, covered wagon model-building, and more! We can't wait to share our learning with you, and we are so appreciative that parents are helping us run the stations. Please email me with any questions related to set up and parent involvement. Since this is my first Prairie Days event I can't exactly explain all the details clearly, but I am sure it will go off without a hitch thanks to Jodi Lawless' experience and insight.
Class Day is held on Wednesday, June 7th, and it marks the culmination of our school year. It includes all students in grades 4 - 8. Students in grade 8 arrive by 9:00 am and students in grades 4 - 7 report to their homerooms between 9:15 and 9:30 am. The ceremony begins promptly at 10:00 am and should conclude around 11:30 am. We can accommodate early arrivals from 7:30 - 9:15 am, but there is no After-School Program this day. Dismissal is at approximately 11:30 am. Please note, this is a Dress Day for all students. Fourth through seventh grade boys should wear collared shirts and dress pants or dress shorts; girls should wear skirts, dresses, or comparable attire. NOTE: in the event of rain, Class Day is held indoors. If this is the case, students in grade 4-7 will not be able to attend due to space constraints in the Commons. Class Day location will be determined by 8:00 am on Wednesday the 7th and we will notify families of 4th - 7th graders immediately if the event will be held indoors. Thank you for your flexibility. Blue and Gray Day is Friday, May 26th. It will involve the entire school in field games for some friendly competition between the Blue and Gray teams. We hope you can join us for part of this wonderful tradition at 1:00 pm. Students will be reminded (or find out for the first time if they are new) what color they are- either BLUE or GRAY! We will dress up in our assigned color and battle to win...and produce tons of school spirit! I hope you have a wonderful weekend! Sarah Speaker on Girls Education- Razia Jan Grandfriends Day Prairie Days On Tuesday we were lucky enough to have a visit from Razia Jan, a 2012 CNN Hero of the year, who founded a school for young girls in a small village in Afghanistan. She shared stories of her students with us, discussed the importance of education for all, and answered questions. Something she said really stuck with me. She said, "Education teaches people the importance of kindness." Here is a photo of the fourth grade absorbing Razia Jan's wise words. On Friday we couldn't wait to welcome our Grandfriends to our classroom. It was a wonderful success! We had so much fun showing our grandfriends our hard work displayed around the room, sharing our Apple Valley one-room schoolhouse experience with them, partaking in a quilting activity, and making our own butter! We finished out the day by eating cornbread that the 4th graders made with our special butter, and taking a peek at some authentic prairie/prairie-era artifacts. On another note, I want to thank you so much for signing up to help us at Prairie Days, The students are so excited to participate in all the activities at their culminating event which takes place a week from this Wednesday from 11-1 on the Farmhouse Field.
Last but not least, I am uploading photos from our special day that we enjoyed on Thursday. My favorite part of the day was the hike we took as a full grade after lunch. The weather was perfect, and we truly got to enjoy our beautiful campus in all its glory. Curriculum Update Upcoming Events In language arts we are finishing reading Little House on the Prairie, and completing activities to demonstrate understanding and deep thinking about characters, sequence of events, theme, and summarizing. We finished our persuasive essays explaining why we think YOU should move to the prairie. Feel free to stop by our classroom to read them and be convinced! In math, we are wrapping up decimals tomorrow with an assessment. Students rocked this unit, perhaps because we spent so much time and effort getting to know fractions really well before exploring decimals. Next, we move onto geometry. In social studies we continue to study prairie life through our Apple Valley one room school house exercise and through Little House on the Prairie. This Friday, May 5th is Grandfriends Day at Friends Academy. It is a half day for all students with a noon dismissal. If your child has a grandfriend or grandfriends attending, they are welcome to begin registration at 9:15 am. If you have any questions about who is signed up to attend for your child, email Jodi Pink at [email protected] to ask.
Thursday, May 11 is the Lower School Spring Concert. The event will begin at 6:00 PM in the Commons. Students should dress up nicely for the event. (Note: fourth graders sit cross-legged for their performance so keep this in mind when helping the kids choose dresses/skirts). We started our rehearsals today, and we cannot wait to share our performance with you! Our fourth grade Prairie Days event is coming up on May 17. Be on the lookout for an email in the next day or so to sign up for the event! It will take place outside (weather permitting) on the lawn between the farmhouse and the Reed entrance, from 11-1. Blue and Gray Day Friday, May 26th - Blue and Gray Day, our Friends Academy Field Day, will involve the entire school in field games for some friendly competition between the Blue and Gray teams. We hope you can join us for part of this wonderful tradition at 1:00 pm. Please let me know if you have any questions about the end of the year activities, or anything else! Best, Sarah Dear families, One highlight from last week was Thursday's Arts and Poetry Night. For this event, the hallways of our school were transformed into a stunning art gallery featuring the work of FA students of all ages. The classroom spaces showcased an assortment of student-written poetry. In fourth grade, students displayed poems written with visiting poet Lynn Hoopes. Students in fourth grade also displayed"prairie poetry." These poems connect with our social studies unit and are about the geography, wildlife and history of the midwest. Students focused prairie life, landscapes, or animals in which to feature in their poems. Math
- Reading tenths and hundredths - Converting simple fractions to decimals - Comparing fractions - Rounding decimals - Adding and subtracting decimals Just as a reminder, I am always happy to meet if you would like to sit down and talk about curriculum, student work, or any questions that you might have. We don't have another student-teacher-parent conference formally set up, but we can always set up a meeting of our own at any point before the end of the year. Just let me know! Looking Ahead... Friday, May 12th is the Friends Academy Car Wash. This event will last from 2:30 until 4:00 in the FA parking areas. There is no cost for the car wash, but donations are gladly accepted. If you don't have time to get your car washed, there will also be some students in the carpool line with glass cleaner and squeegees offering to wash windows. While the car wash is run by our 8th grade, it is for the benefit of the whole school as it pays for the supplies, dunk tank and bounce house for the FA Field Day Carnival. Rain date for the Car Wash is Friday, May 19. Apple Valley School Prairie Poetry Upcoming Events Hello, families! As we study prairie life in social studies and continue reading Little House on the Prairie, our mix it up social studies is also going to take a trip to the prairie! We are going to be gathering in new mix it up groups and pretending to enter "Apple Valley" classrooms. Students will earn and lose points in order to graduate from our mock one-room schoolhouse. They must earn 100 points to pass! Our goal is to highlight differences between our current method of learning and the methods used in prairie days. Students were given new names from fictional prairie families, and they will be in character during mix it up class and at our culminating Prairie Days event. Here is a sample family, and below are the Apple Valley rules. THE JEFFERSON FAMILY Mr. and Mrs. Jefferson are freed slaves. Now, Mr. Jefferson owns a horse stable where people pay him to board their horses. Mrs. Jefferson is a dressmaker. Their children in school are: Mabel Jefferson, age 6 Thomas Jefferson, age 10 Robert Jefferson, age 12 Last week we continued our unit on poetry, and we wrote poems inspired by our recent study of prairie life. Luckily, it was nice enough to write outdoors! Here we are writing our prairie poetry outside. We spread ourselves out, used our brainstorm notes, and got inspired by the fresh, warm air. Poems will be displayed in our classroom for Arts and Poetry night, which is this Thursday! Upcoming Events: Grandfriends' Day Friday, May 5 noon dismissal (no after-school program) Spring Concert Thursday, May 11 6pm Prairie Day Wednesday, May 17 11-1 on the Farmhouse Field please come! I hope you have had a wonderful long weekend and enjoyed Easter, Passover, or other family time.
Best, Sarah Dreamer Biographies Andrew Clements Book Groups Westward Expansion Little House on the Prairie Poetry with Lynn Hoopes 4th Grade Sleepover Hi everyone! Long time, no newsletter! I hope everyone had some restful time off over our break. I certainly did, and I felt energized and ready to come back. This past week was one of hard work. We wrapped up our "Dreamer" Biography reports. From Muhammed Ali to Barack Obama and Misty Copeland, students were thrilled to share their research and writing with each other. We read them aloud and afterwards, hung them as mobiles in our classroom. Come visit anytime to read your child's! We also finished reading our book group novels. Once the kids finished reading A Week in the Woods, Frindle, or The School Story, we created new groups of three. In each group there was one expert on each book. With each student being THE specialist on the book they just finished reading, the kids all compared their stories. We found commonalities between the books. We also found some differences! Then, we decided to do an author study on Andrew Clements, who wrote all three books. The interesting thing about out author study was that it was BACKWARDS! We made guesses about what Mr. Clement's life must be like based on what he writes about in his stories. Many of us made accurate guesses, too. For example, because Andrew often writes about schools, we guessed that he had either worked in a school or really enjoyed school. We later read an autobiography from his website and discovered that he was an elementary school teacher! We also learned about his writing process, his family, and his passions. With that quick literature unit wrapped up, we began reading Little House on the Prairie this week. The story has helped open our discussions about prairie life and westward movement. We also have been making connections between Civil Rights and Westward Expansion. We are looking forward to studying prairie life in mix it up soon as well. Next week we will have a visit from Lynn Hoopes, former FA parent and current poet, traveler, and photographer. She will lead us through two lessons in writing our own nature-related poetry.
The last bit of news this week is a reminder that Grandfriends’ Day is Friday, May 5th.Invitations have been mailed out to this very warm and wonderful event. We look forward to welcoming Grandfriends or any “friend” of a child on that day. If you have any questions regarding who is being invited for your child, or if you wish to invite someone who you have not invited yet, please email Jodi Pink at [email protected]. I hope you had restful and happy weekends! Best, Sarah Field Trip to the New Bedford Symphony Orchestra Book Groups Dreamer Biography Project Week of Writing Math Update On Monday we will be taking a field trip to the New Bedford Symphony Orchestra at the Zeiterion in New Bedford to enjoy their "Young People's Concert" with grades two, three, and five. The theme of the concert is "gravitational force through harmonic cycles and melody". The students have some preexisting knowledge on this, thanks to the visit NBSO made to school earlier this year. This week we started reading a new book...well, books! We are reading three different Andrew Clement's books, A Week in the Woods, The School Story, and Frindle, in book groups. The groups follow a schedule and take turns reading aloud. They are self monitoring, working together, and are rotating through four different book group jobs, the "summarizer", "discussion director" "vocabulary enricher" and "illustrator". I've seen such wonderful examples of compromise, leadership, problem-solving, and engagement since we started these book groups. The kids were ready for some independence in reading, and they are certainly showing their competence as you can see below! Another exciting project we started this week is our "Dreamer Biography" project. We are researching people who we consider dreamers, people who had dreams for their own futures or for the future of others, and helped make positive change in the course of history, expecially related to Civil Rights or rights of minorities. For example, a student is researching Kathrine Switzer, a female runner who became the first woman to run the Boston Marathon in 1967. Switzer registered to run using her initials K.V. Switzer, and encountered opposition such as an official who physically tried to throw her out of the race. After much effort, in 1972 women were finally allowed to run in the Boston Marathon. Another dreamer is Misty Copeland, the first African American Female Principal Dancer with the American Ballet Theatre. Others include Ghandi, Muhammed Ali, Jackie Robinson, Rosa Parks, Ruby Bridges, and Barack Obama. Last but not least, I want to share our progress on what you may have seen as homework this week: our "Week of Writing"! Students took home open ended writing prompts each night for homework this week. For the first night they simply described their bedroom. For night two, they described a person in their life. On night three they had to identify their favorite place on the FA campus and describe why, and on the last night (my personal favorite) they were asked to describe their perfect day from start to finish. The responses were...precious. Youthful, honest, joyful, funny, and gave me even more insight into their personalities. The Week of Writing reminded me how far they have come as real writers since the start of fourth grade. In Math, we began our fractions unit. We talked about equivalent fractions and how to add fractions. We've been doing a lot of practice with Matholia and manipulatives to truly understand what part of a whole IS. We will continue to practice these concepts over the next few weeks and will begin working with unlike denominators, subtracting fractions, and more. I encourage you to use Matholia at home for extra practice as well.
Happy weekend, all! Sarah |
AuthorMs. Bookstein is teacher of awesome, curious, and kind fourth graders, a lover of all animals (especially her dog, Mabel), and a huge fan of chocolate. Her favorite book is Because of Winn Dixie and her favorite movie is The Jungle Book. She is the author of this blog, however, there may be a few guest posts from her students throughout the year. |